Explore Business Standard
He won't call himself a duke anymore, but that is not enough for many of Prince Andrew's critics. Buckingham Palace and the British government were under pressure on Monday to formally strip Prince Andrew of his princely title and sumptuous home after new revelations about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. After discussions with his elder brother King Charles III, Andrew agreed on Friday to stop using titles including Duke of York. It was the latest effort to insulate the monarchy from years of tawdry headlines about Andrew's suspicious business deals, inappropriate behaviour and controversial friendships. But he still technically holds the title of duke, bestowed by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. And as the son of a monarch, he remains a prince. Andrew's statement relinquishing some of his royal titles came after emails emerged showing he had remained in contact with Epstein longer than he previously admitted, and days before publication of a ...
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is on an India visit, welcomed an agreement on the first phase of the Gaza peace plan to halt Israel-Hamas hostilities on Thursday as a moment of profound relief. The agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye will see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the entry of aid into Gaza. I welcome the news that a deal has been reached on the first stage of President Trump's peace plan for Gaza, said Starmer, in a statement released from 10 Downing Street in London. This is a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world, but particularly for the hostages, their families, and for the civilian population of Gaza, who have all endured unimaginable suffering over the last two years, he said. The UK PM hailed the tireless diplomatic efforts of Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and the United States, supported by regional partners in ...
A research tie-up between Imperial College London and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay to harness quantum computing and biotechnology to help farmers grow stronger crops that are more resilient to climate change has emerged as a focus area ahead of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's expected visit to Mumbai next week. The project builds on quantum as a key pillar of the India-UK Technology Security Initiative (TSI), with a mission to cultivate healthier soil microbes and unlock new strategies for protecting crops in arid and climate-vulnerable regions. The India-UK TSI, signed last year, is scheduled to be at the top of the agenda when Starmer joins Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2025, starting in Mumbai on Tuesday. Imperial College London President, Professor Hugh Brady, will be among the members of the prime ministerial delegation headed for Mumbai on Starmer's first visit to India as UK PM. While further partnerships between the U
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was tremendously thankful for the pageantry and splendour lavished on him during his second state visit to the United Kingdom as he wrapped up a trip that largely sidestepped major public disagreements over difficult trade and geopolitical issues. The mutual warmth, along with Trump's abundance of kind words bestowed on the host country, suggested that an all-out charm offensive by the royal family and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had its desired effect, even though there was a notable lack of progress on some key matters. Trump and Starmer signed what both sides hailed as a historic agreement on science and technology, and they held a roundtable with global business leaders where they suggested the deal could mean significant job gains. Among the topics tackled mostly in private talks between Trump and Starmer were the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and US tariff rates on steel imported from Britain. "The bond between our countries is .
After the pomp, it's time for the politics. President Donald Trump will meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, the final day of the US leader's state visit to Britain, with tech investment, steel tariffs and potentially tricky topics on the agenda. The president and first lady Melania Trump were feted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Wednesday at Windsor Castle with all the pageantry the monarchy can muster: gold-trimmed carriages, scarlet-clad soldiers, artillery salutes and a glittering banquet in a grand ceremonial hall. British officials have festooned the trip with the kind of superlatives Trump revels in: It's an unprecedented second state visit for the US leader, featuring the biggest military honour guard ever assembled for such an occasion. On Thursday it is Starmer's turn to welcome the president to Chequers, a 16th-century manor house northwest of London that serves as a rural retreat for British leaders. Trump's British hosts want to celebrate the streng
US President Donald Trump arrives in the United Kingdom on Tuesday for a state visit during which the British government hopes a multibillion-dollar technology deal will show the transatlantic bond remains strong despite differences over Ukraine, the Middle East and the future of the Western alliance. State visits in Britain blend 21st-century diplomacy with royal pageantry. Trump's two-day trip comes complete with horse-drawn carriages, military honour guards and a glittering banquet inside a 1,000-year-old castle all tailored to a president with a fondness for gilded splendour. King Charles III will host Trump at Windsor Castle before the president holds talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers, the British leader's rural retreat. Starmer's office said the visit will demonstrate that the UK-US relationship is the strongest in the world, built on 250 years of history after that awkward rupture in 1776 and bound by shared values of belief in the rule of law and open ..
Windsor Castle staff are setting the 50-metre-long mahogany table. Grooms are buffing the hooves of the horses that will pull the royal carriages. And the military honour guard is drilling to ensure every step lands with precision. Throughout the halls and grounds of the almost 1,000-year-old castle west of London, hundreds of people are working to make sure King Charles III puts on the best show possible when he welcomes US President Donald Trump for his historic second state visit this week. The visit, featuring glittering tiaras, brass bands and a sumptuous banquet served on 200-year-old silver, is a display of the pomp and ceremony that Britain does like no one else. But it's a spectacle with a purpose: to bolster ties with one of the world's most powerful men at a time when his America First policies are roiling longstanding trade and security relationships. We're buttering up to him, said Robert Lacey, a royal historian and consultant on the Netflix series The Crown." He ...
Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump's favourite spots on earth. At some point, maybe in my very old age, I'll go there and do the most beautiful thing you've ever seen," Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, travelling to Scotland on Friday as his family's business prepares for the August 13 opening of a new course it is billing as the greatest 36 holes in golf." While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he's said will take place at probably one of my properties. The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the president also plans to visit a Trump course near Turnber
French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Britain on Tuesday for a state visit mixing royal pageantry with thorny political talks about stopping migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats. Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also try to advance plans for a post-ceasefire security force for Ukraine, despite apparent US indifference to the idea and Russia's refusal to halt the onslaught on its neighbor. Macron's three-day visit, at the invitation of King Charles III, is the first state visit to the UK by a European Union head of state since Brexit, and a symbol of the British government's desire to reset relations with the bloc that the UK acrimoniously left in 2020. The president and his wife, Brigitte Macron, will be driven to Windsor Castle by horse-drawn carriage, greeted by a military honor guard and treated to a state banquet hosted by the king and Queen Camilla. The British royals made a state visit to France in September 2023. Macron also will address
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer marks a year in office this week, fighting a rebellion from his own party over welfare reform and reckoning with a sluggish economy and rock-bottom approval ratings. It's a long way from the landslide election victory he won on July 4, 2024, when Starmer's center-left Labour Party took 412 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons to end 14 years of Conservative government. In the last 12 months Starmer has navigated the rapids of a turbulent world, winning praise for rallying international support for Ukraine and persuading US President Donald Trump to sign a trade deal easing tariffs on UK goods. But at home his agenda has run onto the rocks as he struggles to convince British voters and his own party that his government is delivering the change that it promised. Inflation remains stubbornly high and economic growth low, frustrating efforts to ease the cost of living. Starmer's personal approval ratings are approaching those of Conservative Pr